It is #FrancophonieMonth and this is the story of the Franco-Manitobans!
The first French speakers arrived in what is now Manitoba in 1660 when fur traders reached the area.
Settlement of the area by Francophones did not occur until the 1730s though.
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Pierre Gaultier de Varennes was the 1st to establish a presence in southern Manitoba with Fort St. Charles in 1732. From that year until 1741, he established seven forts in Manitoba.
As fur traders arrived, they married Indigenous women, creating the Metis people.
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In 1871, there were 5,500 Francophones in Manitoba, making up half of the population of the province.
Within 10 years, they were a minority as English settlers from Ontario moved in.
In 1890, the provincial government removed the linguistic rights of Francophones.
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That year, English became the sole official language of the province, including in schools.
In 1896, a compromise was reached to allow French instruction at schools.
Then, in 1916, the province banned any language but English for school instruction.
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French instruction was not re-introduced to schools until 1955.
In 1970, French was reestablished as an official language for education.
In 2016, the Francophone Community Enhancement and Support Act was passed, signaling Francophone linguistic acceptance in Manitoba.
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Coming Out was a groundbreaking documentary series that aired in Canada in 1972.
It was the first Canadian television program to target the LGBTQ community.
It became a landmark series that is mostly forgotten today.
This is its story.
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In 1972, only three years after homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada, Maclean-Hunter's cable community channel in Toronto launched Coming Out.
The series was targeted specifically to an LGBTQ audience, running for 13 episodes in total.
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Focused on the gay community of Toronto, it premiered on Sept. 11, 1972.
It was hosted by Paul Pearce and Sandra Dick of the Community Homophile Association of Toronto.
The show provided a positive portrayal of the LGBTQ community that was rare at the time.
Canada has over 8,500 named rivers that have helped shape our landscape, culture and history.
Some rivers are short, some are very long, but where do they begin?
Every great river starts as a trickle of water.
These are the sources of some of our major rivers.
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The Mackenzie River is the longest river in Canada at 4,241 kilometres long. Its drainage basin is 1.7 million square kilometres, second in North America to only the Mississippi.
That all begins at Great Slave Lake, the source of the Mackenzie River.
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The Yukon River is the second longest river in Canada, running for 3,185 kilometres.
It stretches from British Columbia, through Yukon, and into Alaska.
The source is generally believed to be the Llewellyn Glacier at Atlin Lake in BC (or maybe Lake Lindeman).
For a time in the 1930s, five sisters were the biggest tourist attraction in Ontario, surpassing even Niagara Falls.
But behind the scenes, they were exploited by everyone around them, including the Ontario Government.
This is the story of the Dionne Quintuplets.
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On May 28, 1934, five girls (Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie) were born to Oliva-Édouard and Elzire outside Corbeil, Ontario.
Born premature, they were the first known quintuplets to survive infancy.
They were delivered by local doctor Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe.
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Their total weight at birth was 13 pounds six ounces (6.1 kg). The babies were kept in a wicker basket borrowed from neighbours, covered with heated blankets. They were each massaged with olive oil and given water sweetened with corn syrup.
Since 1947, the Canadian Rangers have provided a military presence in the Canadian North.
Experts in wilderness survival, they cover areas of Canada that are not practical for conventional Army units.
Considered to be "always on duty", this is their legendary story.
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The origin of the Canadian Rangers dates back to the Second World War and the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers. The PCMR monitored the British Columbia coast for a Japanese attack. The militia was made up of self-sufficient loggers, trappers and fishermen.
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After the war ended, the force was disbanded.
Two years later, with Cold War tensions increasing, the need to have a military presence in the Canadian North became apparent.
Rather than station regular troops in the Arctic, the Canadian Rangers were formed.
Elijah Harper was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, little known outside of the province.
But when he refused to accept the Meech Lake Accord and voted against it while holding an eagle's feather, he became an icon of resistance.
This is his story.
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Elijah Harper was born on March 3, 1949 at Red Sucker Lake, Manitoba.
As a young man, he studied at the University of Manitoba and then worked as a community development worker and program analyst for the Manitoba Department of Northern Affairs.
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In 1978, he was elected Chief for Red Sucker Lake Band, serving for four years.
In 1981, he was elected as an NDP MLA to the Manitoba Legislature. He was the first Treaty Indigenous to be elected.
In 1990, the Meech Lake Accord was being debated in Canada.
When King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Canada on May 17, 1939, one of the biggest events in Canadian history began.
This is the story of the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada.
Prior to 1939, various members of the Royal Family had visited Canada but no reigning monarch had ever done so.
The idea for a Royal Tour was started by Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir who saw it as something that could foster Canadian identity.
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At the coronation of King George VI in 1937, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King consulted the monarch about a possible tour of Canada. He told the King it would bolster trans-Atlantic support for Britain in the event of war.